May’s Most Viewed Games on Twitch: Mid-Season Invitational Gets League of Legends #1 Spot

League of Legends topped May’s top 10 games based on esports hours watched on Twitch, taking the #1 spot from Dota 2. The Mid-Season Invitational, held during the game’s mid-season break, drove it to 21.2 million hours watched. Several events for Dota 2, such as the Manila Master, Starladder iLeague Invitational 2, and DreamLeague, could not match the success of its Kiev Major in April. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive took #3, driven by the Intel Extreme Masters in Sydney, Dreamhack events in Austin and Tours, and HTC 2v2 Invitational.

World of Tanks had the biggest entry into the top 10, gaining five spots to take #7. The Grand Finals 2017 led the rise in hours watched, nearly quadrupling World of Tanks’ esports viewership from April to May to 1.6 million. Super Smash Bros. Melee was the second new entry in the top 10. Events such as Dreamhack Austin and Royal Flush Melee led to a #10 spot for the game with 0.6 million hours watched.

Heroes of the Storm 2.0 drives total Twitch viewership up by 80%

The impressive rise of PLAYERUNKOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS continued in May, with the game taking the #2 spot by total hours watched on Twitch. The game increased its viewership slightly from 46.1 million in April to 47.1 million in May. The rise of the game cost Hearthstone and Dota 2 a spot, with the rest of the top seven games unchanged.

The release of Heroes of the Storm 2.0 in late April drove viewership for the game up by 80% month on month. The game generated 10.4 million hours viewed on Twitch and gained five spots, taking #8 in the ranking. Prey entered the ranking for the first time, gaining 139 spots after a small demo version of the game was released in April. May saw the full release of the shooter by Bethesda on Steam, driving it to #19.

Two new titles entered the top 20. Survival horror game Friday the 13th: The Game came in at #10, while NetherRealm and Warner Bros’ Injustice 2 entered at #18. Meanwhile, Outlast 2, Smite, and Dark Souls III all dropped out of the top 20.

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